SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP)  Former
CIA director Adm. Stansfield Turner was among 17 people injured
in a weekend airplane crash that killed his wife, a couple from
San Francisco and a Spaniard, Costa Rican authorities said Sunday.
Turner, CIA director under President
Carter, was in a San Jose hospital Sunday. No details on his
condition were available.
His wife, Eli Karen, was killed Saturday
afternoon when their Taxi Aereo Centroamericano flight crashed
into a home shortly after taking off in San Jose, U.S. Embassy
spokesman David Gilmour said.
Also killed in the crash were Siegfried
and Therese Richert of San Francisco, and Spaniard Antonio Sanchez
Diaz, according to Gilmour and Javier Montero, chief of operations
for Costa Rica's Judicial Investigation Organization.
Turner and 16 other people, most of them
Spaniards, were injured when the Czech-built LET 410 plowed into
a house in an upscale neighborhood near the Tobias Bolanos airport,
Red Cross officials said.
Three people were in the house, including
a Nicaraguan housekeeper who suffered minor injuries.
"It was like a bomb. Pieces of cement,
wood, and even a wall fell on top of us," the housekeeper,
Yamileth Saenz, told the daily La Nación.
In addition to Turner, the injured passengers
and crew included nine Spaniards, two French citizens, one Salvadoran
and three Costa Ricans, the Red Cross said. Most were in stable
condition in San Jose hospitals Sunday.
The Costa Rican pilot was seriously injured,
said Pamela Villalta, spokeswoman for San Juan de Dios Hospital.
The plane had been destined for the Tortuguero
national park on Costa Rica's Atlantic coast.
The cause of the accident was under investigation.
It was unclear whether heavy winds played a role.